Sophomore goalkeeper Maddy Henry knew as well as anyone entering Friday the dangers of Stanford’s offense. Just a year ago, the Cardinal outshot Marquette 31-2. Even with Henry’s seven saves, a career-high at the time, Marquette lost that game in Palo Alto, 3-0.
“We actually watched quite a bit of film from last year and I know all of us individually took a look at it as well,” Henry said. “It was nice having that from last year at least to know where their tendencies were.”
Extra time in the film room helped Henry grab a career-high nine saves and Marquette limit Stanford to 20 shots Friday night at Valley Fields, but that was not enough for the Golden Eagles to triumph, getting shutout 4-0 in the season opener.
Sophomore goalkeeper Maddy Henry had the first half that any coach would dream of. Stanford had eight shots in the first 35 minutes of play, but six saves from the Omaha native kept the second-ranked Cardinal off the scoreboard.
“I kind of like the games more that have a lot of action at least for me personally,” Henry said. “So if there was any pressure, I didn’t feel a ton of it. I kind of just roll with the punches.”
Despite being outshot early and often, Marquette held its own for the first 35 minutes of the match. The Golden Eagles even had the opportunity to take the lead in the 26th minute on an Eli Beard penalty kick. Then in the 36th minute, reality set in.
Seconds after Henry’s sixth save of the first half, Stanford freshman Catarina Macario knocked in a goal following a poorly cleared shot by Marquette. The Golden Eagles were only down 1-0 heading into the halftime break. However the Cardinal attack came out firing in the second half as reality struck again in the 52nd and 72nd minutes as Kyra Carusa tallied a pair of goals to put the game out of reach. The final goal from Stanford came on a perfectly-timed header from Mariah Lee to add insult to injury in the 74th minute.
“You saw a bit of what makes them special,” head coach Markus Roeders said of Stanford’s last two goals. “You have to clap at that because that’s what really special players do.”
Marquette will not have much time to dwell on the loss as they host Kentucky, who lost to Wisconsin 1-0 in its season opener, Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
“They’re a little bit in the same boat that we’re in,” Roeders said. “You try to pick up the pieces a little bit and you look forward moving forward in the season.”
Roeders is picking up the pieces from the Stanford loss with an exceptionally young group, especially on the back line. Starting right back Bri Jaeger received only 18 minutes of gametime prior to Friday and starting center back Mary Kate Simon made her collegiate debut Friday. Outside of the defense, true freshman Kylie Sprecher also made her collegiate debut as she played 44 minutes in the second half.
“You can only expect so much,” Roeders concluded.
